Special Sharing

I had the opportunity to sit as an audience to a very inspiring speech by a great speaker. His words were wise, full of motivation and inspiration, and of hope for us, young muslim daeis to shine as great Muslim leaders and thinkers of the world!

Hopefully this sharing will boost our spirit and iman, and remind us again of the very reason of why we are in this path in the first place.

He first started by giving us a quick update on the situation of lands where Muslim warriors are fighting for this Deen, i.e. the current update in Iraq and Palestine. The Iraqis have taught the US army a very important lesson that it is NOT easy to fight a group of soldiers, who fights for the cause of Allah. And he is confident that US will be withdrawing from Iraq soon. Same goes with Palestine, it is a proof that it is not easy to defeat strong-willed/faithful Muslims.

He continued to share his fatherly advice and here, I will share some of them insyaAllah:

Some advices from him:

Malaysians actually have many advantages more than other Muslim countries. This advantage means that we have more to contribute in terms of dakwah and in making changes to the ummahand the world! Think in a bigger scope, when you aim, aim to become the leaders of the world! Not just for Malaysia.

Don’t be easily satisfied with your current achievement, instead look and aim higher.

Have a ‘clear tarbiyah’ from the beginning, plan this stage well. If you feel at this stage, things are difficult now, don’t worry, insyaAllah it will be easier later. Be patient, be steadfast and do not give up easily.

We must develop an understanding of the world, the issues around it, the history etc. Do this little by little, analyse it well, and ‘it will appear’. This means that we may not understand the world as it is at the moment, but by reading, analyzing and discussing with others, we will have that understanding which will help Islam.

We must understand that knowledge is very powerful, it has the power to change the world. He gave us an example of how an important discovery based on knowledge has given political achievements to a country:

According to him, Albert Einstein (Note: he is a Jew who supports Zionism) has approached the President of US, regarding his idea and discovery of the atom in the development of a powerful weapon: the atomic bomb. The US president was interested. However there was a price to pay for it.

As a return of the idea/favour, the US promised to help Israel in its establishment of the Israel state. And since then and until now, US is still keeping to that promise and is still helping Israel.

(Note: I have made some further reading on Einstein on this matter, which can be found at the end of this note. Indeed, he is a strong supporter of Zionism!)

That is to show that you can do many things with science, knowledge and discovery. In the instance above, with the use of atomic bomb as weapon for its military strategy, US had made important political achievements and rise to become a very strong and powerful state.

It all starts with knowledge and the will to think, think, and keep on thinking. Our speaker said it is not necessary to have the best lab to do work to achieve something; we just need to use our brains and keep it working. Even without a lab, we can do it insyaAllah.

Therefore, in fighting the enemies of Islam, let’s not have the idea that one area is more important than the other. Yes, it is important to have mujahids to be fighting with swords against the kuffar i.e. jihad missions, but it is also as important to challenge our enemies using the same weapons and materials that they use. That is, challenging them through knowledge, science, economy, media, literatureetc . Therefore we must be aware of the importance of strengthening our literature ‘team’, media ‘team’, economic ‘team’, science ‘team’, and of course to have a strong base of knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah.

Again, he stressed to us that it is crucial to join in the industry of art, economy, science and technology; it is actually a tarbiyah for ourselves. Let’s produce economic leaders, digital leaders and even psychologists who can master the analysis of the heart.

He advised also to ‘double your ability and capacity, and you can do other things that other people cannot do. It may be simple things but it can give high impact to other people. We can’t win if we do not have anything in our pocket.’

He also gave an example of how the knowledge of architecture can give deep meanings to a person. For example, when building a mosque, it comprises of different parts with its own meaning and symbolization for example:

a) The shape of the dome of the mosque is like a mother embracing her child with love. This symbolizes that a mosque also embraces all the musolli there.

b) One tall minaret shows that Allah is one.

c) The mihrab shows the importance of a leader in leading the Muslims.

It is now the era of technology, of TVs, computers, mobile phones and others. It is a time where the knowledge of moving electrons, photons collisions etc makes up the digital system and our life is ‘electronic’ now. Therefore, become digital leaders! Know the digital system. If you know it, then spread the knowledge and let all muslims be knowledgeable in this area as well. Be advisors to established magazines (of the digital system)! Form a club with 100 branches and become teachers to others on this system. His words: “YOU are the digital leaders!’

Don’t separate ourselves from the technology/ digital world. We can do more for the da’wah if we have this knowledge. At the moment, technology is the language that people are speaking. Therefore, let’s speak the same language as others and spread da’wah through this. You will be stronger if you know a language that the people at the place are speaking. He gave an example, if we were to be in UK and do not know a single English, we will be strangers and will not be able to communicate with the people at all.

The ummah is really waiting for us to lead them.

And we in Malaysia must not be selfish; we must share our knowledge to help other Muslim countries. Carry our experience to the Muslim countries for example, the Arab countries, Pakistan, Sudan and other poor Muslim countries, as they haven’t got what we have, they haven’t got the same opportunity as us to study and live comfortably.

DON’T be a ‘Malaysian only’, but give to other Muslims in other countries too. Be a great MUSLIM.

Never say it is enough. Never stop! Do more, read more, work more.

His tips on becoming more active as preparation for us and the next generation to become strong daies

A) Our health must be better than others because:

-we do not smoke. So no smoking! Smoking is a cause of illness.

– no wine drinking

-we have clean bodies, not sick, no AIDS etc.

-our strong iman contributes to our health. For example, if we follow the sunnah to not eat too much, it will give good effect to our health

B) We can get our next Muslim generation ready to become great Muslims who will work for the ummah, that is, our children and babies. Prepare them from a young age to be daeis. Spend time with them, play football with them, swim etc, and then teach them solat and good character. In the next 5 years, he will be a good gentleman, respective and wise. We also have the field! The mosque, so bring them there and do activities there. Remember, they are the future duat.

C) Develop our creativity. Discover this field, be great thinkers. We must be able to think of solutions to any problems.

D) Do not be sad/worried but be happy always. This will help us to be more active insyaAllah.

I certainly hope that anyone who is reading this (especially myself) will take this as a good motivation and inspiration, and to carry the aspiration to become great Muslim leaders and thinkers in the very near future, insyaAllah.

One take home message that I definitely got from his speech is the importance to be excellent in our studies as we have the ability to change the world from our knowledge. InsyaAllah, it is a good booster for myself to work and study harder for the sake of Allah and the ummah.

Jzkk to the speaker.

Salam wbt

*Note on Einstein:

Einstein was born of middle class Jewish parents. He emerged at 26 years of age as one of the greatest scientists in history. He brought the military potential of atomic energy to the attention of President Franklin D Roosevelt in a letter of Aug 2, 1939. He regretted the use of nuclear weapons on cities and the atomic armaments race. Although deeply interested in Zionism, he declined the offer of the presidency of Israel in 1952.